What Paint Stripper Works Best with Concrete Masonry

Finding a paint stripper that removes paint from concrete masonry is not an easy as it sounds. Concrete masonry is a porous material and many of the paint strippers sold in hardware stores and paint outlets are not strong or powerful enough to remove the heavy and multi-layered paint applied to masonry concrete. Thankfully,it’s not all doom and gloom, as several paint strippers work well on concrete masonry and can remove all of the paint.

Industrial Strength

Paint which has been applied to masonry concrete is usually quite heavy and will have been painted on fairly liberally. In order to remove a heavy paint, the paint stripper needs to be of industrial strength. Also, concrete masonry is a porous material, so the paint inevitably penetrates deep into the concrete. Therefore, the paint stripper used to remove concrete masonry needs to be able to take off multiple layers of paint, which is something many standard commercial paint strippers are not capable of doing.

Lightening Strip Paint and Mastic Remover is a paint remover of industrial strength and is therefore powerful enough to tear paint off masonry concrete. Lightening Strip also penetrates deep into the pores of the concrete, dissolving the paint and cleaning out the pores.

Will the Paint Stripper Remove all Types of Paint from Masonry?

Some caustic paint strippers will only strip alkyd or latex paints from masonry concrete. Other paints, particularly 2-component types such as urethanes and epoxies, will prove very difficult to remove using many caustic paint strippers. Lightening Strip Paint and Mastic Remover is guaranteed to vanish all traces of any type of paint, including 2-component paint, from masonry concrete. However, if you know your masonry is covered with a latex or alkyd paint, Dumond Chemical's Peel Away line of paint strippers is a popular choice, as the brand is relatively inexpensive and efficiently removes most types of paint from a masonry concrete surface.

Ease of Use

A large amount of paint strippers have been tested on masonry concrete. The testing concluded that Lightening Strip was not only more superior than other brands of paint stripper in removing all types of paint, but was also superior in its application and the amount of time the product took to remove the paint. Due to Lightening Strip's slow evaporation process, it enables large areas of paint to be stripped at once. Its application is extremely simple and since the stripper comes in a spray-on bottle, it can be easily applied to masonry floors, as well as hard to reach wall areas.  

Cost Effectiveness

Although caustic paint strippers are usually cheaper than powerful, industrious strength brands, they have to be applied thickly in order to work efficiently, which causes a higher square foot per gallon ratio that makes them less cost-effective. Lightening Strip, on the other hand, is much more effective, as it strips an area almost twice as large as caustic strippers.

Safety and Environmental Awareness

There has recently been advancements in safe and environmentally friendly paint strippers that can remove the paint from masonry surfaces. Products such as Back To Nature are strong enough to remove the multi-layered paint on masonry concrete but without burning, creating a hazard or releasing a pungent aroma. In these increasingly environmentally conscious times, Back To Nature is a paint stripper that works best with concrete masonry. However, Lightening Strip, which isn't as eco-friendly as its natural alternative, strips the paint of masonry best of all.